Steve Jobs

By JC3439

  • February 3, 1986:

    For $10 million, buys the Graphics Group division of Lucasfilm that becomes Pixar Animation Studios.

  • NeXT Computer

    NeXT Computer releases its first computer.

  • November 29 1995

    Becomes Pixar's president and CEO. Later in the year, Jobs brings Pixar pubic one week after the release of "Toy Story," with Tom Hanks doing the voice of Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear. The film earns $192 million at the box office. Its success helps make it quite attractive for celebrities to lend their voices to animated characters.

  • December 10, 1996

    Returns to Apple, as an adviser, after it buys NeXT for $429 million.

  • August 6, 1997

    Announces a $150 million investment from Microsoft, coupled with a partnership on Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer for the Mac.

  • November 10, 1997:

    Introduces the Apple Store, which lets consumers custom-order Apple products directly from the company online.

  • January 8, 1998:

    Apple returns to profitability.

  • May 6, 1998:

    Introduces the iMac, which becomes commercially available in August.

  • January 5, 2000:

    Drops the "interim" from his CEO title at the Macworld Expo, joking that he would be using the title "iCEO," paying homage to the company's product-naming conventions. Takes a $1 annual salary. Soon terminates projects including Newton and OpenDoc, and changes licensing terms to make Mac-cloning cost-prohibitive. Technologies developed at NeXT ultimately evolve into Apple products such as the Mac OS.

  • January 9, 2001

    Introduces iTunes, then exclusively for Mac users. "iTunes is miles ahead of every other jukebox application, and we hope its dramatically simpler user interface will bring even more people into the digital music revolution."